“HE NEVER FAILS!”

Today’s Reading: Zephaniah 3

Click scripture link to read online or HERE to listen online (then click the symbol of the audio speaker above the scripture portion).

On the right of the photograph you can see the southwest corner of the Temple Mount area. The broken foundations of the walls were built thousands of years before modern Jerusalem’s walls. Seen in the middle of the photo are new buildings in modern Jerusalem built with the same kind of stone that was used by builders down through the ages. The people who live in these buildings want to be near the Temple area where they “call on the Name of the Lord” with “a pure language.” Hebrew has been restored as the language of modern Israel (Zephaniah 3:9a).

GOOGLE MAPS – To see where the photo was taken, click HERE.

Key Verse: Zephaniah 3:17

The Lord your God in your midst,

The Mighty One, will save;

He will rejoice over you with gladness,

He will quiet you with His love,

He will rejoice over you with singing.

Today’s reading begins with a description of the condition of Jerusalem’s leaders at that time. There are corrupt princes, judges, prophets and priests (Zephaniah 3:3) who are in place. But this will not last! Zephaniah is coming on strongly! Daniel and other godly young men are about to come on the scene to shepherd God’s people under the coming Babylonian rule. Zephaniah is optimistic about the future. God gives him prophecies that are full of promises of God’s favour. Our key verse is filled with hope! Someone has said, “The future is as bright as the promises of God!” As the above photograph shows, Jerusalem, as a city, has been restored. And the spiritual “City of God,” described by Zephaniah, is under construction by the Spirit of God. Jerusalem is the only city for which the Bible asks readers to pray. Let’s do this today! Let’s all read Psalm 122.

PRAYER FOR TODAY:

Yes Lord, I am praying for Jerusalem. I sing with You! I am glad and rejoice with You! (Zephaniah 3:14). I have seen the fulfillment of Your promise, O Lord,  to bring the Jewish people back to Israel. Now, Lord, I pray for a mighty spiritual revival where Your Messiah, Jesus, will be Lord and Saviour for the majority! In His Name I pray. Amen!!!

100 PERSONAL WORDS:

I understand that by about 65 A.D. close to a majority of the people of Jerusalem believed that Jesus of Nazareth was Messiah. But then, because of persecution by the Roman appointed High Priest, the actions of those who wanted to overthrow Roman rule, and the cruel response of the Roman authorities, thousands of Jewish Christians left Jerusalem and settled elsewhere. Jerusalem and the Temple suffered destruction in 70 A.D. Eventually, the Romans would not allow Jews or Christians (who were mostly Jews) to live in Jerusalem, and so it became a totally pagan city for at least 150 years. Jews and Christians trickled back there around the year 320 A.D., after Constantine became Emperor of Rome.

I must comment on God’s promise of Zephaniah 3:9, “I will restore to the people a pure language.” In 1979 Crossroads produced a movie called “Apples of Gold.” In that movie our film crew interviewed an elderly lady who was the daughter of Eleazer Ben Jehuda. She told how her father was awakened in the middle of the night and heard a voice saying to him, “You are called to revive the Hebrew language as the everyday language of the people who will come to live in a future state called Israel.” That is exactly what has happened! Today even the menus in the Jerusalem restaurants are in Hebrew. A language that had been dead since the Babylonian captivity has been revived. To my knowledge, this has never happened before to any people. I think we can assume that the other promises given by God through Zephaniah will also be fulfilled!!! There are now dozens of Jewish Christian congregations throughout Israel that conduct their services in Hebrew. Zephaniah wrote of God, “He never fails!” (3:5) and God said, “Therefore, wait for Me!” (3:8a).

Yours because “He never fails!”,

David

P.S. I couldn’t help but begin singing the song, “God can do anything but fail” (click here for the Charlotte Mass Choir with soloist Albertina Walker).

SEEK THE LORD

Today’s Reading: Zephaniah 2

Click scripture link to read online or HERE to listen online (then click the symbol of the audio speaker above the scripture portion).

Today, 3,000 years after David fought Goliath in this valley of Elah, Israeli farmers plant crops here to feed their people. In ancient times Israel lived in the mountainous regions and the Philistines on the more productive farmland all the way to the sea coast. Today’s reading informs us of God’s future judgment on the Philistines and other nations which surrounded Israel.

GOOGLE MAPS – To see where the photo was taken, click HERE.

Key Verses: Zephaniah 2:3, 10

Seek the Lord, all you meek of the earth,

Who have upheld His justice.

Seek righteousness, seek humility.

It may be that you will be hidden

In the day of the Lord’s anger.

…This shall they have for their pride,

Because they have reproached and made arrogant threats

Against the people of the Lord of Hosts.

“Righteousness,” “humility,” “pride,” and “arrogant threats” are contrasted in today’s reading! As people whose desire it is to be followers of Jesus, the One Who humbled Himself even to death on the cross, we must learn to be humble before God and people. Pride brings trouble! (Proverbs 13:10). Pride hardens hearts! (Daniel 5:20). Pride causes spiritual decay! (Hosea 7:9,10). Pride hinders our progress! (Proverbs 26:12). “Pride goes before destruction and a haughty spirit before a fall” (Proverbs 16:18).

It seems that those who seek God and humble themselves before Him are in a perpetual minority. We must firmly resist cultural pressures to just go along with the crowd. For those who believe in the cross of Jesus, “the Lord’s fierce anger” (Zephaniah 2:2) has been born by Jesus as our Substitute. But what about those such as the nations around Israel and Judah who chose to remain in pride and arrogance rather than humbling themselves before God. It is a fact that the majority have it wrong. Jesus said that the “many” are headed for “destruction,” and the “few” for “life!” (Matthew 7:13-14).

PRAYER FOR TODAY:

Lord God, I pray for grace to live humbly before You and before people. You have promised that as I do this, You will lift me up. I thank You Jesus that You humbled Yourself even to death on the cross. I pray this in Your Name Jesus. Amen!!!

100 PERSONAL WORDS:

The “Standing Orders” from Jesus to His followers is printed on my T-shirt (pictures below). I must obey Him at all times. Sharing the News of Jesus with “All the world” is not optional for me!!! My wife and family feel the same way about their lives and time here on earth.

I am facing some major decisions regarding future ministry responsibilities. I need a breakthrough from Heaven concerning any days, weeks, and months during which God may spare the life of this almost 80 year old man!!! Perhaps I will be able to report about this in about two weeks, God willing!

Yours to participate in reaching the world for Christ!!!

David

P.S.  (pictures below).

THE DAY

Today’s Reading: Zephaniah 1

Click scripture link to read online or HERE to listen online (then click the symbol of the audio speaker above the scripture portion).

Orthodox Jews reading the Scriptures and praying at the “Wailing Wall” or Western Wall of the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. Today’s reading, Zephaniah 1, tells us of the day (a period of time) when Jerusalem shall hear “the sound of a mournful cry” and “a wailing!” (Zephaniah 1:10).

GOOGLE MAPS – To see where the photo was taken, click HERE.

Key Verse: Zephaniah 1:6

Those who have turned back from following the Lord,

And have not sought the Lord, nor inquired of Him.

Zephaniah is the great-grandson of King Hezekiah. Hezekiah led in calling the people back to the true God. But the king’s son, King Manasseh, reintroduced the worship of Molech (“Milcom” – 2 Chronicles 33:1-10), and Hezekiah’s grandson, King Ammon, continued the pagan practises (2 Chronicles 33:21-25). Ammon’s son, King Josiah, picked up from His great-grandfather, Hezekiah, and reformation and revival took place (2 Chronicles 34:29-33). So this makes Zephaniah and King Josiah second cousins. No doubt the ministry of Zephaniah was a big factor in the repentance before God, which began six years into Josiah’s reign and continued for about 25 years.

Zephaniah’s preaching and teaching is centred on the judgment which Judah will bring on itself if they fail to repent! He uses the word “day” 11 times in this first chapter. The Judgment Day is coming. Zephaniah, his cousin, King Josiah, and their generation were spared from the “trouble,” the “distress,” the “devastation,” and the “desolation” which would come later, after Josiah’s death, in the destruction of the Temple and Jerusalem by the Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar.

Let us NOT “turn back from following the Lord!” Let us NOT turn back from seeking the Lord and inquiring of Him!!! This blog is designed to help us SEEK and INQUIRE!

PRAYER FOR TODAY:

Lord God, I seek You today. Lord Jesus, You said, “Seek and you shall find!” (Matthew 7:7). I pray for persistence and consistency in inquiring of You, learning of You through daily reading Your Word, meditating on Your Word, and praying constantly for grace to apply Your Word to my life. I pray for this with all my heart in the Name of the One Who is in Himself the full expression of what You have to say to Your human family, the Living Word, Jesus Christ! Amen!!!

100 PERSONAL WORDS:

[NOTE: This was originally written by David on April 21, 2016]

It will be four years on June 3rd, 2016, since I started this daily two-year journey through the written “Word.” On June 3rd, God willing, I plan to continue for another two years, beginning in Matthew’s Gospel, moving to Genesis, Mark, Exodus, and so on. It will continue to be fresh bread every morning with God, the Holy Spirit, as the Fire which bakes the bread. I’m up like a good baker, mix the ingredients, put them in the oven of prayer. The bread comes out of the oven at 6 a.m. and is put on a shelf for you to pick up (via the the Internet). I need help to advertise this bakery. Please tell others where to find this fresh bread. You can email or post on Facebook the link to www.100words.ca. Thank you for spreading the word!

Yours for fresh bread every day!!!

David

P.S. Speaking of fresh bread, the most delicious bread that I love to eat in Jerusalem is pictured below…big, soft bagels! You will find many street vendors like this man pushing his cart-load of bagels around the Old City!

SHIGIONOTH

Today’s Reading: Habakkuk 3

Click scripture link to read online or HERE to listen online (then click the symbol of the audio speaker above the scripture portion).

A majestic Elk stands poised in Banff Alberta. Today’s reading tells us of the flock (sheep), and the herd (cattle). It speaks of God making our feet like deer’s feet so that we can walk on high places in Him like these elk on a plateau in the Rocky Mountains are doing. Let’s go for a walk today.  New life is everywhere!

GOOGLE MAPS – To see where the photo was taken, click HERE.

Key Verses: Habakkuk 3:17-19

Though the fig tree may not blossom,

Nor fruit be on the vines;

Though the labor of the olive may fail,

And the fields yield no food;

Though the flock may be cut off from the fold,

And there be no herd in the stalls —

Yet I will rejoice in the Lord,

I will joy in the God of my salvation.

The Lord God is my strength;

He will make my feet like deer’s feet,

And He will make me walk on my high hills.

“Shigionoth!” (Habakkuk 3:1). No respected scholar that I can find knows what that word means. The stupendous, glorious, magnificent fact of the resurrection of Jesus out from among the dead is truly so beyond our human capacity to express that we may need words like the Apostle Paul said were the reason why he spoke in tongues more than all the Corinthian believers (1 Corinthians 14:18)… “In the spirit he speaks mysteries” (1 Corinthians 14:2b). In the very next chapter Paul writes in detail about the “Resurrection!” Paul saw the resurrected Jesus! “Last of all He was seen by me also!” (1 Corinthians 15:8a).

Our key verses speak of a “Saturday” grave-type experience when nothing seems to be going the way it should, but “Yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation” (Habakkuk 3:18). Go ahead! Walk on high places! “Joy” is used as a verb here. It’s an action word! Let us express our joy to God and to all we meet today and every day. Amen!!!

PRAYER FOR TODAY:

Lord God, like the Apostle Paul I find that my mother tongue is unable to fully express what I feel inside. Paul said, “My spirit prays but my understanding is unfruitful. What is the result then? I will pray with the spirit, and I will also pray with the understanding. I will also sing with the spirit and I will also sing with the understanding!” I pray for Your grace to pray and sing both with my spirit and with my understanding. In the Name of the risen Christ Jesus! Amen!!!

100 PERSONAL WORDS:

Sometimes I start my blog and I really don’t know where I’m going with the thoughts that spill out through my fingers onto my laptop keyboard. I think that’s a miracle of God’s grace to me. I know that the risen-from-the-dead Jesus is interceding at the throne of God for me according to Hebrews 7:25…”Therefore, He is also able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him, since HE EVER LIVES to make intercession for them.” Jesus is praying for me in that great prayer meeting gathered at God’s throne. Amazing!!! True!!! The word “salvation” is found three times in today’s reading. Thank You, Lord Jesus!!!

I know personally a master mason…not the religious cultic group in which people are called “Masons”…but a man who builds with stone, concrete blocks, plaster, etc. His name is Randy Herring. Through his trade, he and his wife finance, at great personal sacrifice, a mission to needy children and teens in Honduras. Check out the “Kid’s Ark International Youth Camp” online (click here). He showed me pictures of the camp he has built, which has already impacted thousands for Christ. Randy has built, for teaching purposes, exact replicas of Biblical sites. The campers are there, so to speak, in the Holy Land, experiencing the places where Bible events occurred. This master mason has created his replicas in exact detail, even to the cracks in the stones as seen in Jerusalem at the Garden Tomb. Just imagine the powerful impact of the Gospel message at this camp!

Yours for knowing Him and “The power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death” (Philippians 3:10),

David

ONE WHO EMBRACES

Today’s Reading: Habakkuk 1-2

Click scripture link to read online or HERE to listen online (then click the symbol of the audio speaker above the scripture portion).

Seleucia was the seaport from which Paul and Barnabas left with John Mark for their first missionary journey (approx. AD 49, see Acts 13:4). Part of the ancient (man-made) harbour can still be seen. In AD 70 it became the base for the imperial Roman fleet. In the light of our key verse, imagine the military and merchant navies sailing over the vast seas. The breadth and depth of the seas are symbols of the knowledge of the glory of the Lord which is predicted for a future time by Habakkuk (Habakkuk 2:14).

GOOGLE MAPS – To see where the photo was taken, click HERE.

Key Verse: Habakkuk 2:4, 14

Behold the proud,

His soul is not upright in him;

But the just shall live by his faith.

…For the earth will be filled

With the knowledge of the glory of the Lord,

As the waters cover the sea.

“Habakkuk” means “One who embraces.” This prophet, motivated by love, embraced his people by warnings of imminent attack by the Chaldeans (Babylonians/modern Iraq) and by God’s mercy and restoration at a later time. He reminds Jerusalem that God is “from everlasting,” and that He is “The Holy One,” Who is “of purer eyes than to behold evil, and cannot look on wickedness.” When Jesus bore the sins of the world in His embrace He cried out, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” Could Habakkuk 1:13a be the reason that Jesus was forsaken? Think about it!

The Lord gives His answer in chapter 2. We are thrust forward to future times when God’s message will be common knowledge, written on “billboards,” as one translation of Habakkuk 2:2 puts it, or would you believe television or even a blog? The 16th century priest, monk, teacher, and pastor, Martin Luther, staked his life on the words of Habakkuk 2:4b, words which are quoted in Romans 1:17, Galatians 3:11, and Hebrews 10:38, “The just shall live by his faith.” For more of Luther’s story click here. A special person in my life, George Upton, said to me, “Jesus reached out His arms to embrace the whole world, and we nailed His hands to the cross.” Indeed that embrace does encompass the whole world today because of His cross.

PRAYER FOR TODAY:

Your disciples, Lord Jesus, were puzzled and no doubt filled with fear as they tried to piece together what they knew about the Messiah from their Hebrew Bibles (read Isaiah 53). I pray for the discipline to spend time today thinking about these things. I’m filled with wonder, love and worship for Your amazing grace revealed in the Gospels, which the Apostles were yet to write. Amen! Amen! Amen!!!

100 PERSONAL WORDS:

My son, David Reynold, our photographer, and his wife, Kathy, call their ministry, “World Embrace” (WE). Please pray for them as they embrace the people of Uganda (click here for a prayer focus).

I’m overcome with emotion just now, and I must pull myself back to loving God with my mind, and not just my heart, in order to complete the blog. It occurs to me that discoveries of natural laws, which God built into the cosmos, would revolutionize our ability to communicate God’s truth (all truth is God’s truth). Here I am typing on a laptop computer and posting what is written at the speed of light around the world. In 1517, Martin Luther, a 33-year-old theology professor at Wittenberg University, walked over to the Castle Church in Wittenberg and nailed a paper of 95 theses to the door, hoping to spark an academic discussion about their contents. I’m nailing this blog to a satellite 22,500 miles above earth, and “the earth” is “filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters cover the sea” (Habakkuk 2:14). Of course, just as Luther’s words were not read by all, so not all will read my words here. Nevertheless, the potential is there for wide, in-depth coverage (like the sea). During the Second World War years, 1939-1945, I travelled to church each Sunday in the same way that Habakkuk might have travelled, by horse and carriage (buggy). No, we were not Amish. Millions of country people did this.

Yours for putting God’s message to humanity on billboards, on television, on the internet, and also communicating one-to-one God’s love and salvation,

David

P.S. Behind the Crossroads Centre in Burlington are the satellite dishes which, like billboards, make the message plain so that “He may run who reads it” (Habakkuk 2:2). Also, Crossroads has used billboards such as the one below on Bloor Street, Toronto.

The view from the top of the Crossroads Centre in Burlington, Ontario. You can see several satellite dishes in the background. This was during the summer of 2012, when we featured a full-sized replica of the Old Testament Tabernacle as part of Crossroads’ 50th Anniversary celebrations. My grandson, Adam Mainse (Ron & Ann’s son), was one of our tour guides.

Another view of a satellite uplink dish from the roof of the Crossroads Centre. The faithful sacrificial prayers and financial support of partners in ministry (you and me) make it possible to send God’s Word around the world.

A billboard in downtown Toronto in the late 1970’s advertising a new program called “100 Huntley Street.”

THE BLOODY CITY

Today’s Reading: Nahum 3

Click scripture link to read online or HERE to listen online (then click the symbol of the audio speaker above the scripture portion).

The Karnak Temple ruins can be seen along the Nile River. A Statue to Ramses II still stands tall in the Egyptian sun. Nahum prophesied that Assyria would receive the same treatment that they had given the ancient Egyptian capital city of No Amon (Thebes). According to Egyptian records, the destruction of Thebes by Assyria took place in 664 B.C. The destruction of Nineveh, Assyria, is dated in 612 B.C.  The decision to include Nahum in the Bible, made by the council of Rabbis, was based on the fact of his accurate prediction of future events. It has been calculated that Nahum probably wrote the book named after him in the year 654 B.C., at least 42 years before predicted events took place.

GOOGLE MAPS – To see where the photo was taken, click HERE.

Key Verse: Nahum 3:18

“Your shepherds slumber, O king of Assyria; your nobles rest in the dust. Your people are scattered on the mountains, and no one gathers them.”

It is certain that Nahum knew all about the repentance before God by the king, the nobles and the people of Nineveh approximately 65 years before the writing of this book, as a result of the preaching of Jonah (Jonah 3:1-10). Nineveh, over the space of two generations, had degenerated from a God-fearing people to the people Nahum describes, a “bloody city,” “full of lies and robbery,” violence, and sexual seduction (Nahum 3:1-4). There is sadness in Nahum’s words at the decline of the moral standards of a once upright people. In our key verse, Nahum puts the blame for this turning away from doing what is right in God’s sight directly on the business community (“merchants”), the government (“commanders”, “captains”) and religious leaders (“shepherds”), the leaders of Assyria.

We who live in the developed world have seen a huge change in moral standards over the past 65 years. From the end of World War Two until now, there has been a steady rise in violence on our streets, in our schools and in our homes. The greatest change morally has been the destruction of millions of little lives in what should be the safest place on earth, the wombs of their mothers. This holocaust against these defenceless lives must call out to God for judgment, as did the holocaust against the Jews by the Nazis. Today’s reading should teach us the terrible results when leaders abdicate their responsibility. Eventually “people are scattered”… “injury has no healing”… and the “wound is severe.”

PRAYER FOR TODAY:

Lord God, I repent for not doing all I might have done to help prevent the moral decline that is obvious to anyone who studies the statistics on violence, family breakdown, sexual promiscuity, etc. I pray for grace to take a stand daily for what is right in Your eyes, holding the truth in love, and living my life with integrity. Keep me faithful to You, O Lord, in reading and making part of myself Your Holy Word every day. May I do as the Psalmist wrote, “Your Word have I hid in my heart that I might not sin against You!” (Psalm 119:11). May my reading today be not just in my head, but may it penetrate my innermost being. In the Name of the only sinless human Person, Your divine Son, Jesus, I pray. Amen!!!

100 PERSONAL WORDS:

Some scholars believe that Elkosh (Nahum 1:1), the hometown of Nahum, is Capernaum (“Kafer Nahum” – village of Nahum). After Nahum’s accurate prophesies, some say the name of his village was changed to honour him. Capernaum was the town to which Jesus moved after His rejection in Nazareth. It was the home of Matthew, Peter, Andrew, James and John. A New Testament reading today might be Matthew 4:12-17. Here “Jesus began to preach and to say, ‘Repent.'” I think that Nahum would’ve supported Jesus’ message! I’ll try to put below some pictures of the ruins of Capernaum from the time of Jesus.

I have called myself on several occasions “a champion of loosing causes.” The latest being my attempts to influence a majority of Canada’s political leaders to support the traditional and Biblical meaning of the word “Marriage.” We do have leaders in government who do not “slumber,” as Nahum said of the Assyrian shepherds. But there are not enough leaders who are wide awake and who stand up for just causes. While I believe the marriage issue is important, I also believe that the “slaughter of the innocents” in the abortion industry is the greatest evil in our land. We are in this respect a “bloody city” (Nahum 3:1a). Canada has absolutely no protection in law for the little ones in the womb. The final prophesy given by Jesus is worth reading again in this context (read Luke 23:28-31). May God have mercy on us!

Yours for remembering that on Good Friday, Jesus took into Himself the judgment deserved by all the sin mentioned in today’s reading, all the sins mentioned in the entire Bible, and all the sins of the human race, past, present and future. On that day, Jerusalem was truly “The bloody city”,

David

P.S. Jesus prophesied about the town of Nahum, Capernaum, as recorded in Matthew 11:23-30. Capernaum is only a tourist destination today. This once bustling commercial centre is uninhabited today. Here are some pictures which would seem to support Jesus’ prophecy.

The tourist entrance to the ancient ruins of Capernaum (“Kafer Nahum” – village of Nahum).

An ancient millstone among the ruins of Capernaum.

THE LORD IS GOOD

Today’s Reading: Nahum 1-2

Click scripture link to read online or HERE to listen online (then click the symbol of the audio speaker above the scripture portion).

Looking east from the Zion Gate towards the Mount of Olives you can see Jerusalem’s City walls. Perhaps Nahum had such walls in mind when he wrote that the Lord is “A stronghold in the day of trouble.”

GOOGLE MAPS – To see where the photo was taken, click HERE.

Key Verse: Nahum 1:7

The Lord is good,

A stronghold in the day of trouble;

And He knows those who trust in Him.

Anyone quickly reading today’s chapters may well assume that Nahum is only about judgment. Why? Because the theme is about the destruction of Nineveh, capital of the Assyrian Empire, as a result of the evil of their rule. By consistent reading of the Scriptures, we would not jump to that conclusion; we would remember that 100 years before Nahum’s prophesies, Jonah preached in the streets of Nineveh, the entire city repented, and they were spared from disaster. Nineveh became the mightiest city on earth. In 1842 the city was excavated by archeologists, and they found walls 100 feet high and wide enough to allow three chariots to run abreast, as well as a moat 150 feet wide and 60 feet deep. Nahum predicted Nineveh’s destruction by an “overwhelming flood,” and 18 years later the Tigris river flooded, destroying part of the wall. The Babylonians invaded through this breach and Nineveh was destroyed, and its people subjugated.

Ten times in today’s reading the word “Lord” is found. While God is merciful and patient, justice for the nations must prevail sooner or later in time, and it is guaranteed in eternity. In chapter two, notice the word “excellence” repeated twice. God promises “excellence” to His people. Here’s the challenge to find this excellence! Man the fort! Watch the road! Strengthen your flanks! Fortify your power mightily!

PRAYER FOR TODAY:

Lord God, I pray for excellence in all my ways. May I have the determination spiritually that the people of Israel were exhorted to have physically in their restoration. You are Good! You are my Stronghold in my time of trouble! You know me because I trust in You! Amen!!!

100 PERSONAL WORDS:

[NOTE: This blog was originally written by David Mainse on April 17, 2016]

Here I am, 25 months past the date when it was predicted I would die of acute MDS leukemia. Sometimes I feel like a teenager again, filled with energy and positive thoughts for the future. “The Lord is GOOD!” In the days of trouble over the past four years, I quote daily that couplet I heard my father say, “Be my symptoms what they will, Jesus is my Healer still.” I’m very aware of another saying my dad said, “Man proposes, but God disposes!”

Yours for finding the reasons why God has put each one of us here on earth, and for fulfilling His purposes!!!

David

P.S. My son, Ron, showed me on his computer how you can take each day’s blog photograph location and get a 360 degree look all around the place where my other son, David Reynold, took the photos. If you haven’t tried it yet, click the “Google Maps” link under the photo and explore the area by dragging and dropping the little yellow man (located on the bottom right of the map). Then you will get the “street view,” and you can look all around by clicking the right or left arrows, which rotate the view.

CONTEND

Today’s Reading: Jude

Click scripture link to read online or HERE to listen online (then click the symbol of the audio speaker above the scripture portion).

From En Gedi, Israel, looking north along the shore of the Dead Sea, the waves, heavy with minerals, roll slowly toward the shore. Today’s reading tells about people who are like “waves of the sea, foaming up their own shame.”

GOOGLE MAPS – To see where the photo was taken, click HERE.

Key Verses: Jude 24-25

Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling,

And to present you faultless

Before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy,

To God our Savior,

Who alone is wise,

Be glory and majesty,

Dominion and power,

Both now and forever.

Amen.

This short but powerful letter gives us a huge challenge, as well as great encouragement. After praying that “mercy, peace and love” would be multiplied, Jude then challenges us to “Contend earnestly for the faith!” The word “contend” means “to assert,” “to affirm,” “to grapple with,” and “to go head to head”! Just think! Jude uses that word “contend” again in describing the confrontation of Michael, the Archangel, with Satan! (verse 9). This gives us some idea as to how we are to engage in the battle for Truth! Jude says that we can do this by (1) Building yourselves up, (2) Praying in the Holy Spirit, (3) Keeping yourselves in the love of God, and (4) Looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life. Let’s read two or three times verses 22 & 23 and decide firmly to “contend” with “compassion!” Finally Jude gives us a most beautiful and powerful benediction, our key verse. Amen!!!

PRAYER FOR TODAY:

Yes! I pray Jude’s benediction. Lord God, keep me from “stumbling,” and may I be filled with  “exceeding joy!” In the Name of Jesus, “God, our Saviour!” Amen!!!

100 PERSONAL WORDS:

When I was 12 years of age, my mother died. I was angry at God but loved my minister Dad who, at that time, had taken on two country churches in the Ottawa Valley. I listened to sermons and knew that he truly practiced what he preached. But it was not until after he had left for his mission to Egypt when I was 15 that I came to “grapple” with whether to believe in God or not. It was when I was 16 that the owner of the Chrysler dealership, where I worked part time, took me on, not just as an employee, but as a lost soul who needed Jesus. Syd Healey truly contended for my salvation by incessantly quoting Scripture, arranging for me to drive his 1952 Chrysler New Yorker to church (what 16-year-old could resist that!), and the result was that I made a lifetime decision to believe in Jesus Christ and follow Him forever.

By the time I was 18, I was a public school teacher in the village of Chalk River, Ontario. I remember clearly struggling with the challenge of conducting myself as a follower of Jesus should. I memorized Jude 24 & 25 and would quote it often. Later in my life as a Pastor, I would often say those words as the benediction at the close of a Sunday service. To this day, those words fill me with joy and confidence!

Yours for the wisdom that comes from “God our Saviour, Who alone is wise!”

David

MARVELOUS THINGS

Today’s Reading: Micah 7

Click scripture link to read online or HERE to listen online (then click the symbol of the audio speaker above the scripture portion).

Once inside The Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, you can look to the right and see the entrance to the adjoining building, which is an Armenian monastery. The present leader of the Armenian Church was once the atheist leader of the Young Communists of the Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic. He testifies to an amazing conversion to Christ.

GOOGLE MAPS – To see where the photo was taken, click HERE.

Key Verse: Micah 7:19

He will again have compassion on us,

And will subdue our iniquities.

You will cast all our sins

Into the depths of the sea.

Most of Micah’s words tell of the troubles that will come on the world because of sin, personal and collective. The cumulative result of rejecting God is stated in Micah 7:13, “The land shall be desolate because of those who dwell in it, and for the fruit of their deeds.” Man’s efforts at creating a utopian society have ended up in “desolation.” Consider the end results of the world’s mass murderers in the 20th century. The communism of Lenin, Stalin, Mao, and Pol Pot, (perhaps 100,000,000 murders) and the national socialists of Hitler (perhaps 20,000,000). The first four were atheists, and Hitler and the leaders around him, who tried to introduce the ancient pagan gods, despised Jesus and the writers of the Bible because they were Jews. Surely these abysmal failures of mere man are cause for despair. But don’t give up! The future is bright because God is not finished with the world yet. Read the last seven verses of Micah again!!! God has done, and will do, “marvelous things”!!!

PRAYER FOR TODAY:

Lord God, who is a God like You…pardoning iniquity, delighting in mercy, and having compassion on us? Thank You! Thank You! Thank You! I’m overwhelmed by You, Lord. I give You my life again for this new day! I pray that I will not dredge up from the depths of the sea my past sins or the sins of others. May I think, speak and act in the Truth of Your Word and in the same mercy which You have sworn to give us “from days of old!” (last four words of Micah). In the Name of the One Whose mercy and truth took Him to the Cross and out from the empty tomb, the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen!!!

100 PERSONAL WORDS:

I was 17 years old when I sang a solo in the Baptist Church of Renfrew, Ontario. I was very nervous, but as I got into it, the truth of which I sang gripped my heart and the fear left. The song’s words were “Down, down, down, down (I sang the words with my voice going lower and lower), down in the depths of the sea. The sins of the past are all gone at last; down in  the depths of the sea” (Micah 7:19b). I had given my life to Christ just over a year before, and I realized that when I expressed the Word of God with my voice, I grew in confidence that those Words were true! (I’ve Googled that song and here’s what I found…click here).

Gossips, backbiters, and judgmental people go fishing down there in the “depths of the sea.” Then they often put what they find in their “net”…on the aptly named “inter-net.” Please, please, don’t even go there into the sludge of these bottom feeders. I’m sure that there are many lies there. Besides, when sin is confessed, forgiven by God, and cast into His sea of forgetfulness, He puts up a sign that says, “No Fishing!”

Yours with thankfulness for sins forgiven,

David

FROM EVERLASTING

Today’s Reading: Micah 5-6

Click scripture link to read online or HERE to listen online (then click the symbol of the audio speaker above the scripture portion).

Manger Square in Bethlehem is just across the street from the Church of the Nativity, which is built over the spot where it is believed that Jesus was born. The Palestinian government has offices here. God has something to say to political authorities.

GOOGLE MAPS – To see where the photo was taken, click HERE.

Key Verses: Micah 5:2, 6:8

But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah,

Though you are little among the thousands of Judah,

Yet out of you shall come forth to Me

The One to be Ruler in Israel,

Whose goings forth are from of old,

From everlasting…

He has shown you, O man, what is good;

And what does the Lord require of you

But to do justly,

To love mercy,

And to walk humbly with your God?

The Bible scholars consulted by King Herod during the visit of the wise men had no trouble finding the scroll which contained the 700-year-old words of Micah and identifying the place of the birth of “the One to be Ruler in Israel, Whose goings forth have been from old, from everlasting!” (literally the days of eternity). If the story of the birth of Jesus was not true, one would think that, with the amazing growth of the Jesus movement in Jerusalem, it would’ve brought official denials recorded in the Mishna (minutes of the Jewish ruling council which still exist today), from the priest/historian Josephus, or the Jewish teachers such as Gamaliel, grandson of the famous Rabbi Hillel; but there is no record which denies  the claims of the Apostles and others (read Matthew 2:1-12). Rabbi Saul, student of Gamaliel, who became the Apostle Paul, wrote, “Concerning His Son Jesus Christ [Messiah] our Lord, who was born of the seed of David according to the flesh…” (Romans 1:1-6).

PRAYER FOR TODAY:

Lord God, thank You for what Peter called “The prophetic word made more sure, which you would do well to heed as a light that shines in a dark place” (2 Peter 1:19a). I pray that I will see with insight, with a new perception, and a clarity of understanding. May I reflect Your light into dark places today. I ask this in the Name of “the Light of the World,” Jesus Christ. Amen!!!

100 PERSONAL WORDS:

I’ve quoted often the words of our second key verse, but the most memorable time was on a phone call to former Prime Minister of Canada, the Rt. Hon. Brian Mulroney. He had given me his private phone number sometime earlier, and I had never used it prior to this occasion. Now it was different. He had just lost a referendum on his formula to bring the French speaking province of Quebec into full partnership in the constitution of Canada. He had invested all his political capital and years of his time into the fulfillment of this vision. As I knelt in prayer that evening after the vote tally was in, I knew it was time to call him. Norma-Jean was beside me and she heard me say, “This is David Mainse. Is the Prime Minister in?” A lady said, “No, he’s at Meech Lake. He needs to talk to you, I’ll put you through.” A very discouraged Prime Minister said, “Hello.” His voice, always low, was lower than usual. When I told him who it was, he said, “I’m sitting here on the couch with my children. I’m reading them a story, thanks for calling.” In order to not keep him too long away from his children I got right to my point. I said, “I believe that God has a word for you. You’ve worked very hard to do what you believe is best for Canada. On behalf of all of us, thank you!” Then I shared the Word from the prophet Micah. I said, “Here’s all God expects of you: ‘What does the Lord require of you but to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God?'” (Micah 6:8b). He thanked me for praying for him, his family and his government, and then we said goodbye. On a previous visit, he said that he and his wife, Mila, watched a 100 Huntley Street repeat most evenings around midnight. He laughed and said that I helped him sleep well.

Yours for the Word that God has for each person from His Book!

David

P.S. Below is Prime Minister Brian Mulroney receiving one the books on Canada’s spiritual heritage which Crossroads published. Because of the 100 Huntley Street Christian television ministry, I’ve had the honour to converse with all our Canadian Prime Ministers who have served our country over the last few decades (except for the very short term P.M. Kim Campbell).  I pray every morning for, as Paul writes, “All who are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence. For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Saviour, who desires all men to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth” (1 Timothy 2:2-4).